Tanker carrying 625 liquor cartons seized in Abohar

Abohar, November 28

The Excise Department and Rajasthan police have stepped up their drive to prevent the smuggling of liquor to Gujarat where Vidhan Sabha poll was scheduled for December 1 and 5.

Official sources said a team seized 625 cartons of English liquor worth Rs 45 lakh in the market by intercepting a tanker near Dablok on the Chittorgarh highway last night. The liquor was made in Punjab and was to be supplied from Moga to Surat in Gujarat. An investigation indicated that trucks and oil tankers were being loaded with Punjab and Haryana-made liquor, these were routed through different highways to rush the consignments to poll-bound Gujarat. Driver and conductor of the tanker were held, their mobile phones were under the scanner to identify the consignee and consignor.

Assistant Excise Officer Ajay Singh said 625 liquor cartons were found stacked behind the boxes of crockery and grocery items. A case has been registered.

It has reportedly come to surface that a huge amount of illicit liquor was also being smuggled from Rajasthan to Gujarat. In the last 15 days, the Excise Department and the police teams had seized liquor having market price of crores of rupee in separate interceptions on NH-62 and other highways that connect Gujarat to Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana.

As per the sources, due to the Vidhan Sabha election in Gujarat, the Excise Department had launched a special drive from October 5 onwards. As many as 938 persons were held and 1,414 cases registered under the Excise Act. During the drive, 15,356 bottles of whisky, 1,918 bottles of illicit liquor, 3,651 bottles of beer, 49,870 bottles of India-made liquor were seized. The Excise Department and police have been directed to put special nakas on all the highways at night also.